Goshen Retreats Barbados

Goshen CBI Project

Project Hope

United Caribbean

When children are exposed repeatedly to traumatic events the
result is a proportion of them that develop disorders like Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Without assistance, these children
are at significant risk for delinquency, substance abuse, school
drop-out, and difficulties in their own relationships. Societies
throughout the Caribbean and in Barbados are primarily matriarchal.
Thus, when children are abused or find themselves trapped in negative
situations, their children automatically become victims.

Project Hope's Hope House will
place a strong emphasis on the Spiritual positive psycho-social
aspects in children's care.

Hope House will provide:

• Trauma resolution which will be for children who have
been exposed to abuse and other negative experiences.

• Positive parenting program aimed to help the mothers
tackle the demands of parenting, thus reducing the incidence of
physical and emotional abuse to children because of the mother’s
frustration. Fathers will be encouraged to participate as co-parenting
of both father and mother, where possible the father is known,
will be strongly encouraged.

• Family Life Education.

• An after school care program which will provide creative
ways for the children to work through their feelings and emotions.

• Character building programs such as ‘Character
First’ to help the children build habits of honesty, diligence,
responsibility and develop a caring attitude.

• A program called ‘KidsGames’ which is a sport
focused, value-based, global initiative for children between the
age of 5 – 11

• A program called ‘Kicking
AIDS Out’ which trains youth sport leaders to become
skilled in a peer-to-peer approach that they can adopt in their
sport programs and activities that they are already leading. Kicking
AIDS Out promotes that youth will be more receptive to the information
and education through a peer-to-peer approach that is integrated
into existing and well organized sport programming.

• A program called ‘Children
Are People’ which addresses drug abuse. Drug Abuse is
one of the most consistent and significant contributors to the
social problems in existence in our island today. Thus, the primary
objective of this proposed program is the facilitation of drug
abuse prevention.